Hungary’s largest online marketplace, Vatera, is experiencing a surge in demand for analogue technology, with vinyl records, cassette tapes and film cameras among the most sought-after items.
This year, more than 20,000 records and several thousand cassettes have already changed hands on the platform, underscoring a vibrant secondary market for pre-digital formats.
While radios have largely fallen out of fashion, turntables are highly liquid assets, typically selling in less than two weeks. Tape decks follow closely at around 15 days, while reel-to-reel and cassette recorders take an average of 19 days to find buyers.
Vinyl records, tapes and analogue cameras move within 23–26 days, whereas old radios or gramophones can linger on the site for nearly three months.
Affordable nostalgia, costly rarities
Despite headline sales in the hundreds of thousands of forints, most turntable transactions hover between Ft20,000 and Ft25,000, often for spare parts. High-end models by Denon, Thorens, Revox, Sony and Pioneer are the most coveted.
In tape decks, Hungarian brands such as Videoton and Orion remain competitive alongside Siemens, AEG and Telefunken. A rare Philips reel-to-reel recorder fetched nearly Ft280,000 this year, but more modestly priced units, typically in need of restoration, are popular.
Film photography is drawing newcomers with inexpensive Soviet Kiev and Nikon cameras, while premium models by Yashica, Leica and Nikon dominate the top end.
The most expensive sale so far in 2025 was a boxed, dual-lens medium-format Yashica camera, sold for Ft145,000. Antique photographs themselves are also commanding strong prices, particularly portraits, family albums and cityscapes/
Vinyl records continue to attract collectors, with standout sales including a Queen studio album collection and Pál Utcai Fiúk’s Ha jön az álom LP, both closing near Ft170,000.
Even blank tapes are commanding a premium: discontinued Sony, TDK, Maxell and BASF products sell briskly, regardless of whether they still contain recordings, as they can be reused for future taping.
Evolving habits
Only around a quarter of transactions are now finalised in person; most deliveries are fulfilled through couriers or parcel lockers. To strengthen trust, Vatera introduced a new payment system this summer tied to its Buyer Protection service.
Buyers pay online by card, with funds released to the seller only after receipt of the item is confirmed, a mechanism designed to reduce risk for both sides.
Founded in 2000, Vatera is one of Hungary’s largest consumer marketplaces. With over 2 million registered users, it facilitates hundreds of thousands of monthly transactions, spanning categories from electronics and fashion to niche collectors’ goods.
